35th Annual
Homestead Fair To Open Thanksgiving Weekend
An Annual Heritage Festival of Crafts, Food, Hands-on Activities, Farm Animals, Shopping and Family Fun
Preparations are underway for the 35th annual Homestead Fair on Thanksgiving weekend. The 3-day event is easily accessible right off Interstate 35 in Central Texas just north of Waco and will be held Friday, Saturday and Sunday, November 25-27.
This year’s Fair will offer dozens of live agricultural and craft demonstrations as well as hands-on activities, an open air shopping pavilion, agricultural exhibits, educational seminars and horse-drawn hayrides along with a wide variety of food booths, live music and more.
“We are expecting a tremendous turnout at this year’s Fair,” said Fair director Josiah Wheeler. “Our family-friendly outdoor event at the top of the central Texas limestone bluffs overlooking the Brazos River gives us a vast amount of space in a fresh, clean outdoor environment for all ages.”
“Our Fair marks the end of the annual harvest year here at our farm and is an exposition celebrating the viability of real, working homesteads and community life,” commented Wheeler. “We want it to serve as an Open House to share crafts, skills and the accomplishments of our community with our friends and neighbors, both near and far.
Favorite Annual “Must See” Events
• Sheepdog Herding Demonstration
• Horse Training Demonstration
• Hands-on Timber-Frame Barn Raising
Favorite Fair Activities
• Freshly prepared foods at the Food Courts, Booths and Kiosks
• Make-Your-Own Handcrafts
• Horse-drawn Hayrides
Farm Experiences – Back by Popular Demand
• Small group tours of the community’s working farm in the Brazos River Valley beyond the Fairgrounds
“Past Farm Experience tours have been so tremendously successful that we are expanding them this year,” said Wheeler. “Fair goers in small groups can see our real working farm up close – our everyday draft horse farming, cow milking, laying hen care, food and cover crop rotation and much more. Folks who went on the farm tour at last year’s fair will be excited to see significant improvements to the farm, such as a new reservoir, horse stables and much more. Meet our farm managers and ask them any question you’d like!”
Outdoor homesteading skills and demonstrations will be presented daily throughout the Fairgrounds from apple cider pressing, cheese making, bread making, soap making and sustainable gardening to horse farming, sheep shearing, horse training, goat milking, beekeeping and more.
The Craft Pavilion booths and individual craft shops will present live demonstrations throughout the Fair including hand tool woodworking, blacksmithing, casting, pottery, quilting, spinning, weaving, basketry, broom making and more, along with a new macramé booth. Shoppers will find hundreds of hand-crafted items as well as specialty foods for sale in the pavilion, The Barn gift shop, the Homestead Farms Barn and the restored 1760’s Gristmill.
Hands on, make-your-own projects for children include over 2 dozen items which are fun and educational. Free activities for kids include a new hay maze, farm animal petting zoo and duck race.
Music presentations will feature children and youth choirs along with a youth orchestra midday each day, and the Heritage Choir and Orchestra on Friday and Saturday evenings.
A wide variety of educational opportunities are presented throughout all areas of the Fair. Daily seminars offer practical instruction from whole grain bread making to sustainable home gardening, to beekeeping and water collection as well as thought provoking topics such as the impact of digital technology, unplugging from the matrix of consumerism and cultivating hope in an age of upheaval.
Food courts and kiosks (including a new-for-2022 Funnel Cakes booth) offer dozens of food, dessert and beverage selections from multicultural menus.
To better plan your visit ahead of time, view the activities, schedules and map available at: www.homesteadfair.com
The event is hosted by Homestead Heritage and The Ploughshare Institute for Sustainable Culture.
. . . . .
Parking is free
Admission: $12 per day or $18 for the whole weekend, kids 16 and under are free
Kid’s Fair Experience Tokens are redeemable for Pony Rides, Hayrides and Make-Your-Own Activities
Friday & Saturday Nov 25 & 26 – 9 am to 9 pm • Sunday, Nov 27 – 10 noon to 5 pm
Homestead Fair • 608 Dry Creek Road • Waco, TX 76705 • 254.754.9600
